Mamma's boy!

We just started Tyler in swim lessons two weeks ago and he absolutely loves it! He enjoys kicking, splashing around and playing with the other kids. The first week my husband Jim took him and I must say I was a little jelous because I wanted to see Tyler enjoy this experience. Well after his first lesson began saying that he wanted mommy to take him to his second lesson and I needless to say was thrilled. I couldn't wait. I even bought a new bathing suit from gap.com since mine(thank God) don't fit! I also felt a little bad because this was supposed to be daddy and Tyler time. Well Tyler and I went and it was great. Tyler has a blast jumping in the pool and learning how to kick and scoop in order to swim. When we got home we told daddy what fun we had and daddy of course asked who was going to take him next week and Tyler responds,"mommy". Now daddy is a little upset.

Later on the same day while I was working out on our eliptical machine, Tyler got his finger stuck in the heating vent on the floor while playing with one of his trucks. He was screaming and crying for mommy and wasn't happy until he was cuddling in my arms....so cute!

Up until this point Tyler has been a real daddy's boy, but this week he is finally wanting mommy! I am so happy!

On another note Tyler has his second ear infection since he got his tubes back in March and I think he must have gotten water in his ear during swim lessons. :( We just have to be more careful when putting his ear plugs in.

Educating Toddlers Update

I want to thank Beth from PlaygroupDropout for posting my question about educating toddlers. We received a lot of really good feedback from the mom's out there. I know that Tyler is totally normal for his age. I think he is really smart even if I am his mom. Any way, I was on Babyzone.com and found a quiz called " What's Your Child's Learning Style?". There are three types of learners, auditory, visual and kinesthetic. After taking the test I learned that Tyler is a kinesthetic learner. Kinesthetic learners learn through touch, action, movement and hands on work. This is Ty. He never sits still, he is always in motion. They say the best thing for a kinesthetic learner is unstructured playtime.

Have any of you taken this quiz? I would be interested to hear if you have, and if not please take the test and let me know how the results turn out for you. If you have a kinesthetic learner, what do you do to promote learning?

Question: Educating Your Toddler?

I have been teaching Ty his numbers, colors, and letters. He has been making progress. He tries to sing his ABC's with us, will repeat the letter after us, will repeat the numbers after us, will say he colors after us, he can also tell you the color blue and the color green if you ask him what color is this. I think or thought he was doing well.

Last weekend we were with my husband's family for a Easter Egg hunt and one of his cousin's has a daughter 3 weeks older than Ty. Her mother was bragging that she can recognize and tell you her whole alphabet, she can count 1-15 on her own, she can tell you all of her colors and she is now counting 1-10 in spanish. Are they drilling it in her day and night? Is she lying about how advanced(her word, not mine) her child is? Is she trying to make Ty inferior to her child? Am I not working enough with Ty?

I personally think Ty is doing very well and is right on schedule. He talks up a storm and knows everything we say. He is a little sponge.

Tell me your thoughts on this. Any suggestions? Any comments? Any opinions?

Beautiful Day

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Northeast PA! 70 degress and sunny! Ty and I took full advantage of that. First we went to Hillside Farms for some homemade ice cream. I got their cookies and cream and Ty got vanilla with sprinkles. Ty, however, doesn't really like ice cream. So I ended up eating both of our ice cream. Since he wouldn't eat his treat I got him some of their fresh homemade chocolate milk. So yummy! When we were finished we took a walk down to see their work horses. The whole way home Ty kept saying "horses, again". So when we got back home I took him for a walk up to the horse barn diaganal from our house. We feed the horses some carrots and gave them each a pat. Then we turned around for home. At home we played in the yard with his new soccer ball, went down the slide and swang on the swing. Today will be just as beautiful, so again we will be taking advantage of that before the weather turns cold again tomorrow.

Activities for Entertaining a Toddler

As a mother with a young active toddler, I am always looking for activities to keep him entertained. I get bored doing the same things everyday and I know Tyler does too. I searched the web to find suggestions from experts and other parents. Here are some of the ideas that Tyler and I use, some I found and some I made up on my own. Some of the ideas are obvious and others take a little creativity.

1. Take your toddler to story time at your local library. The Lackawanna County Children’s Library has story time each day. Fridays at 10 AM is Laptime story hour for 0-23 month olds. Other area libraries have waiting lists, so call in advance to check this out. I must say I was very nervous to try this one out since Tyler is so active, but I must say that he loves it!
2. Join a playgroup or a toddler class such as Gymboree or KinderMusik. In our area, unfortunately, Gymboree has closed due to lack of turnout. KinderMusik is about $200 for the spring session and I am not sure the classes are going to take place due to lack of interest. Tyler loves other kids, so if you find any other suggestions for me of playgroups please let me know!
3. Arts and Crafts such as finger paints, coloring or make a homemade tambourines. Crayola makes a great finger paint set that only color on ColorWonder paper. The paint does not show up on walls, furniture or your childs hands or clothes.
4. Bake cookies or rice krispy treats. Toddlers love to help mom in the kitchen. Let your toddler pour in the ingredients or stir for you. They feel so important when they get to help!
5. Play with playdough. This is a great opportunity to teach your toddler colors and shapes!
6. Read a book. Reading books are so important to children’s development. For how active my son Tyler is, he still loves to read. Some of his favorites are: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, by Bill Martin and Eric Carle, Freight Train by Donald Crews, and Papa, please get the moon for me, by Eric Carle.
7. Go for a walk. Around the block, to the park, wherever. We live out in the country, we have no parks or blocks to walk around, but we have a horse barn across the road that Ty loves to visit. We feed the horses, pet the dogs and look at the goat, pig and geese. My family also owns a farm on the same road, so we can walk there for a treat. Strawberries, cherries, or apples depending on the season.
8. Have a picnic. Instead of having lunch inside, try a change of scenery. If it is too cold, like right now, why not put a blanket down in the living room and bring lunch in there. Use your imagination!
9. Have a pool party. Again if it’s too cold have one in the bath tub instead. If there is anything that will make my cranky toddler happy it’s playing in the tub!
10. Have a dance party! Turn on the cd player and put on your toddlers favorite tunes. Dance and sing your hearts out!